The Washington Post is laying off around 240 staff as it faces challenges over digital subscriptions and advertising.
Interim CEO Patty Stonesifer informed employees through an email, saying the reductions would be made through voluntary buyouts.
The staff members will receive buyouts next week.
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The company has approximately 2,600 employees, with over 1,000 of those in its newsroom.
The company has not yet said how the buyouts will be split across departments.
However, the newspaper said these cost-cutting measures are due to overly optimistic prior projections for traffic, subscriptions, and advertising growth.Â
Despite being owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post is projected to incur around $100 million in losses this year.
It is contending with declining subscription numbers and a broader industry trend of reduced digital advertising revenue.
The number of subscribers has dwindled from a high of three million at the end of 2020 to approximately 2.5 million.
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The former CEO and publisher Fred Ryan exacerbated the publication’s issues.
He faced criticism for his management style and a noted talent drain within the organization.Â
Patty Stonesifer, a close associate of Bezos, stepped in as an interim leader, deciding to offer buyouts to avoid more severe measures such as layoffs.
The Post is currently identifying a permanent CEO and publisher from a shortlist of five candidates.
The Washington Post Guild, a union representing the newspaper’s employees, condemned the layoff decisions.
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It cites poor choices at the management level and rapid, incoherent expansion as the causes of the job cuts.
Earlier in the year, the publication laid off 20 journalists, froze hiring for 30 open positions and discontinued its online gaming and children’s sections.Â
Similar staff reductions have occurred in other media companies this year, including The Los Angeles Times, Vox Media, and NPR.
The cuts affected at least 7 percent of their workforce
